Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

Fleetie

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Nov 22, 2010
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My girlfriend indulged me yesterday and allowed me to take pics of her. I took the 24-105mm f/4 L and the 85mm f/1.8. I soon detatched the L in favour of the 85mm f/1.8 for its far better bokeh. I used the 85mm wide open, to maximise that effect.
 

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Admin US West

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Nov 30, 2010
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Re: Canon 85mm f/1.8, Wide Open

I do lots of theatre photography with it, but I have to watch out for spotlights, it does not handle them well at all. Notice the purple fringing on the badge of the cap at f/1.8. My 50mm f/1.4 and 135mmL handles it better, but its still there.

85mm f/1.8

1206580917_wNg5L-XL.jpg


50mm f/1.4

1205648745_TL4TY-XL.jpg


135mmL Also has purple fringing at f/2.

1206593329_YJy9a-XL.jpg
 
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Jul 21, 2010
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Re: Canon 85mm f/1.8

It really is a great lens and an excellent value! Here's a shot from when I had the 85/1.8:


Rebel T1i, EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, 1/2000 s, f/1.8, ISO 100

I sold my 85/1.8 only after getting the 85mm f/1.2L II. The 85/1.8 suffers a bit from longitudinal CA wide open - you can see the purple/green fringing in the shot above in the backlit hair halfway down on the right side (the 85L suffers from LoCA also, but to a lesser degree).
 
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Re: Canon 85mm f/1.8

neuroanatomist said:
It really is a great lens and an excellent value! Here's a shot from when I had the 85/1.8:


Rebel T1i, EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, 1/2000 s, f/1.8, ISO 100

I sold my 85/1.8 only after getting the 85mm f/1.2L II. The 85/1.8 suffers a bit from longitudinal CA wide open - you can see the purple/green fringing in the shot above in the backlit hair halfway down on the right side (the 85L suffers from LoCA also, but to a lesser degree).

NA ---

I saw this post a day or so back and decided to give my 85mm another whirl at 'picture day' for T-Ball . . .

Since starting into photography, I've had the opinion that 85 on a crop body is just too much . . . it sort of still stands. How far back were you with your shot here?

I ask because I was going to overlook the 'professional' (in quotes because he was shooting 4-6 year olds on a tripod at 5' 4" :eek: ) photographer and take some 'getting ready' candids . . . still seemed very tight, even for how far away I was.

The 50 has been my go-to for a prime, but my 60 macro has me sort of wanting to try that as a portrait lens (heard from a few friends it was good for that).

Is this just a case of me having 'more access' (being able to get closer than you normally would) to the shot, or is there something I'm missing here? Like I said on another thread, I'm finding myself favoring the 15-85mm over my 24-105mm L just from FOV.

Thanks
 
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Jul 21, 2010
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Re: Canon 85mm f/1.8

dstppy said:
Since starting into photography, I've had the opinion that 85 on a crop body is just too much . . . it sort of still stands. How far back were you with your shot here?

I ask because I was going to overlook the 'professional' (in quotes because he was shooting 4-6 year olds on a tripod at 5' 4" :eek: ) photographer and take some 'getting ready' candids . . . still seemed very tight, even for how far away I was.

The 50 has been my go-to for a prime, but my 60 macro has me sort of wanting to try that as a portrait lens (heard from a few friends it was good for that).

Is this just a case of me having 'more access' (being able to get closer than you normally would) to the shot, or is there something I'm missing here? Like I said on another thread, I'm finding myself favoring the 15-85mm over my 24-105mm L just from FOV.

Thanks

I was probably about 6 feet from her. I really like the 135mm (FF-equivalent) focal length for tight portraits. Apologies for posting with an off-thread lens, but here's one with the 85/1.2 on a 7D:


EOS 7D, EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM, 1/1250 s, f/1.4, ISO 100

In fact, I like the focal length so well that after adding a 5DII to my kit, I also had to add the 135mm f/2L.

I suspect there's a reason for the 'classical' focal lengths for portraits (50mm for full-body, 85mm for torso, 135mm for head/shoulders, all FF-equivalent, of course, since these date from film days). Those focal lengths allow the photographer to frame the subject at a distance of 6-8 feet, which is close enough for interaction without 'getting in their space' and more importantly, results in a flattering perspective (perspective is a function solely of the distance from the subject). A longer distance, and the subject is 'too flat' and the background too compressed, and a shorter distance exaggerates the subject's features, e.g. a close portrait with a wide angle lens means a big nose).

For a T-ball shot where you probably want the subject framed head-to-toe and maybe swinging a bat (or at least holding one), 85mm (i.e. 50-60mm on a 1.6x crop body) sounds about right - a T-ball age kid is usually about the height of an adult's torso).
 
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dr croubie

Too many photos, too little time.
Jun 1, 2011
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Re: Canon 85mm f/1.8

candyman said:
Great photos.
I love this lens and consider to buy it (it is within my budget).
Is there any rumour that it will be replaced by a new version in the next 6-12 months? Because this lens dates from 2004.

You talking about the 85/1.8 from 1992, or the 85/1.2Lii from 2006?
Either way, no specific rumours about either of them. And there's not much wrong with the current versions, if I were you i'd buy either now, could be a long wait to a new version of either.

But in general, canon have been heard to say things like "we're done updating the super telephotos and will do the wider lenses next" and a rumoured "update to a popular lens" (which can be an efs35, or the 50/1.8 or 50/1.4 depending on what you think/hope). Still, they could surprise us with a new 85mm...
 
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candyman

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Sep 27, 2011
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Re: Canon 85mm f/1.8

dr croubie said:
You talking about the 85/1.8 from 1992, or the 85/1.2Lii from 2006?
......................

I meant the 85/1.8. Wow, 1992. ( I got confused by those 85/1.8 reviews that were done with new cameras attached and by seeing first pricelisting around 2004)

I guess you're right. You never know what Canon might do.
Better to enjoy today than waiting for something that not may come for or will take a long time.

Thanks for this reminder.
 
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Re: Canon 85mm f/1.8

candyman said:
dr croubie said:
You talking about the 85/1.8 from 1992, or the 85/1.2Lii from 2006?
......................

I meant the 85/1.8. Wow, 1992. ( I got confused by those 85/1.8 reviews that were done with new cameras attached and by seeing first pricelisting around 2004)

I guess you're right. You never know what Canon might do.
Better to enjoy today than waiting for something that not may come for or will take a long time.

Thanks for this reminder.

Just my opinion, don't hesitate to buy it, especially if you shoot FF. There is very little to improve on with this lens (at it's price point). I doubt if a II version would warrant a replacement purchase, honestly.

I'm dying to go FF just so I can use this lens at 85mm instead of ~135mm (136 actually) equivalent.
 
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V

VerbalAlchemy

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Re: Canon 85mm f/1.8

I was on the fence about the lens for a while.

On the one hand, the 85 (or at least my copy) produces more CA than any lens I own. AF is snappy and accurate in good light-- but mine starts to hunt and miss focus as soon as twilight sets in, and I end up manually focusing half the time if I'm street shooting at night. Despite its maligned micro-USM autofocus, my 50 1.4 actually handles those kinds of situations more gracefully.

On the other hand, if I search in Aperture for my five-star rated photos, it turns out that the 85 is responsible for an inordinate number of them. So any operational frustrations are pretty much trumped by image quality-- especially for the price.

Given the crop body's tighter framing, I've found myself wishing for IS sometimes (not that the 135L has IS either for the FF equivalent)-- but I'm routinely able to get get workable shots with long shutters (managed to salvage a 1/10 handheld shot in the batch below), so it might not be a real concern. Plus, the IS-equipped lenses with comparable focal lengths have smaller apertures, reducing one of the 85's primary appeals: razor-thin DOF.
 

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dr croubie

Too many photos, too little time.
Jun 1, 2011
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Re: Canon 85mm f/1.8

I took a long time deciding between this and the 100 f/2.0, ended up getting the 85/1.8 off ebay, they're listed nearly 10x as many compared to the 100 f/2, presumably if people want a good 100mm lens they give up one-stop of aperture to get one of the 1:1 f/2.8 macros (even though the 100/2 has a tiny bit better IQ than the 85/1.8 ).

Anyway, I don't want to say I just got this lens to take photos of a dog, but such a cute dog he is...
7D, 85/1.8 @ f/2.8, iso200, 1/200s, 430EX with $5 chinese-ebay softbox (and a bit of PP taking out an unfortunately-positioned speaker against the wall in the background, cropped a bit)
 

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